


the promise we exchanged

by prithivas



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Madoka Magica AU, Mental Health Issues, Non-Graphic Violence, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29043210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prithivas/pseuds/prithivas
Summary: In the world of the magical girls, Lysithea watches all of the friends she made die. To save them, she wishes to go back in time, to when they first met - but fails to save them again. She tries again and again, going back in time, and she won’t stop trying until she succeeds.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Lysithea von Ordelia, minor Marianne/Hilda
Kudos: 12
Collections: The Three Houses AU Bang





	the promise we exchanged

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Fire Emblem: Three Houses [AU Bang](https://twitter.com/FE3HAUBang)! You can check out the accompanying piece from my partner [here](https://twitter.com/ikesbff/status/1354817488035274761?s=21)!

* * *

**???.**

* * *

When she opened her eyes, everything was the same.

Lysithea stared at the ceiling as reality slowly settled in, frustrated with herself. She thought she’d done the right thing, thought everything would be alright this time - but she should’ve known better than to hope for the best.

She’d failed to keep her safe once again. No matter what she did, it seemed to be impossible to keep _it_ away from anyone - no matter what, it always found a way to persuade them, despite claiming otherwise. Lysithea hated it, hated their kind; but she hated their inescapable doom the most, which _it_ was responsible for. Yet all of her efforts so far had been in vain.

So here she was, staring at the same ceiling. It must’ve been the 21st, but maybe she was wrong. Though if there wasn’t anyone else that could correct her, was she really wrong? And if no one was aware, was it even real?

Maybe not, but _she_ was real; that was enough reason for her to go on, to keep trying.

When she got up from her bed and made her way out of the room, Lysithea was no longer afraid to take a step. Each time she gave it another chance, she became more determined to succeed.

It was the beginning once again and she was ready.

“What school did you come from?” one of the girls around her asked cheerfully, leaning in. They were in the classroom, during the first break. Lysithea gave her a random, curt answer. “I see! Did you join any activities-”

The other girl interrupted her. “I really like your hair! It looks... so cool.” Lysithea dodged right as she was reaching out to grab a strand and got up on her feet, startling everyone. The others in the classroom were staring at them, but she couldn’t care less - she was sick of it. All of it.

Students around her were whispering things; about how expressionless and cold she was, about how intimidating she looked, about her name and so on. It never seemed to end, and it became more and more irritating each second.

“I’m sorry,” she recited while massaging her forehead for the effect, “but I have a headache. I need to go to the nurse’s office.”

“Oh! Then you should-”

Lysithea interrupted her before she could finish. “Ask the Nurse’s Aide. Indeed.” The girls looked at each other for a split second, then gave her some space so she could leave her seat. She turned around, knowing exactly where to look, and made eye contact with the orange-haired girl at the back of the class.

With everything else, it was frustrating to know all of her progress had been completely wiped away, and none of her past (or future) actions had any effect on what was around her. Yet seeing _her_ , just like the way she’d looked when they had first met, brought Lysithea an inexplicable amount of comfort.

As Lysithea made her way to the girl, her eyes grew slightly with every step she took; and when they were close enough, she also got on her feet. “...Yes?”

“Can you show me the way to the nurse’s office,” she tilted her head sideways, “Annette?”

She was the reminder that she still had a chance, that they _all_ still had their chances to make everything work, even when they weren’t aware of it. Annette was her source of hope, which made her struggle worth it in the end.

A moment passed between them as Annette raised her eyebrows. The other students kept whispering amongst themselves. “Uh,” she looked around after a second, then nodded. “Sure, please follow me!”

As they were walking, Lysithea observed Annette from behind: she was way more jittery and nervous than she usually was; on top of that, her moves were more hesitant and she constantly dragged her feet. Unlike the usual, she wasn’t fiddling with her fingers. Lysithea couldn’t see her face, but she guessed her expression was likely bleak.

“Hey,” Annette spoke up softly, voice lower than usual, “if you don’t mind me asking, how did you know I was the nurse's aide?”

“Ms. Casagranda told me.”

She looked from behind her shoulder for a millisecond, eyes shimmering, and let out a chuckle. It sounded like heavens. “Right! That makes sense. So, um, we’re going to take a turn here!”

Lysithea had already memorized the way to the office, the hallways the both of them had gone through so many times together; Annette’s movements, however, differed quite vastly. It wasn’t the first time she had changed her demeanor based on the way Lysithea acted, but Lysithea hadn’t done anything different than the last couple of tries - it was confusing.

“Your name is… Lysithea, right? I hope you’ll like it here! If you need anything-”

“I have a question.” Lysithea interrupted. Even if it felt a bit rushed, she had to do it as soon as she could, before they fell in the hands of faith. “Do you treasure your current life?”

She had to try another approach, yet again.

“Um,” Annette muttered, caught off guard. “Of course! I love and always cherish the life I’m living, and my loved ones, of course... Isn’t that the same for everyone?”

Lysithea stopped dead in her tracks. It took Annette a second to realize it; when she did, she slowly turned around and gave Lysithea a questioning look.

“Hey-”

“If that’s the case, you wouldn’t want to change who you are, right?” Lysithea took a step forward. “Because if you attempt that… you will lose everything that is precious to you.”

They were alone in the hallway. Annette stared at her intensely as her expression faded into a more confused one. Lysithea wanted to get close and tell her everything, scream, cry; but she felt so empty, so cold. She already knew that there was no use trying as no matter what she would say, she wouldn’t be able to explain anything.

Maybe it would all go for naught again, but she had to try again. She didn’t have any other choice.

“What do you mean?”

She took in a breath. “You should stay as you are, Annette.”

Annette’s brows knit as she took a step forward as well. Her movements were more stable now. “Hey, Lysithea?”

(It was a new beginning, everything was as it had always been. Everything was the _same_.)

“Sorry if this sounds weird…”

(Yet with Annette, it was different.)

“Have we... met before?”

(But why?)

* * *

**001.**

* * *

It felt weird, finally being out of the hospital.

For so long, Lysithea had been stuck inside with no way of knowing what was happening outside. An isolated life that had stolen most of her childhood from her. She didn’t care about it, couldn’t bring herself to; after all, who could mourn after something they never had in the first place? It was her normal, all she knew.

 _She isn’t getting any better_ , the doctors had said. _There is nothing else we can do. We think it’s better if she starts going back to school again._

They’d said it like it was the easiest thing in the entire world, continuing where she left off when she had lost so much time. Lysithea hated it; hated how they didn’t seem to understand, how they didn’t care.

Now she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, and let her worries run free. She was starting her first year today, in the middle of the school year, and all she could do was examine the white ceiling as her anger turned into dread.

If only she could stay in this moment forever.

“Isn’t that right, class? You can’t judge a woman’s attractiveness by the way she cooks eggs, no way! Let this be a lesson for all, never grow up to be as petty as _some people_ and fuss over small details like this, ever! Ever, I say!”

Lysithea listened to the teacher yell from the other side of the door as she waited to be called inside. She could see inside the classroom clearly from the window surface; only a few of the students were really paying attention to what she was saying, while the rest were talking to one another. They were laughing - was it at her? The teacher? Maybe it was something else entirely.

“Now with that out of the way…” She heard footsteps approaching and straightened herself, feeling extremely nervous. Before she could even prepare herself, the door was open and the teacher was standing tall in front of her. “Welcome, sweetheart! Come on in.”

She was frozen in place. Even without looking, Lysithea could feel everyone’s eyes on her, looking curiously. It was silent in the classroom now, so much so that her ears were starting to buzz. At that moment, it felt like time had come to a halt, like she was completely stuck; it was unnerving.

“Don’t be shy,” the teacher chuckled, as if her suffering was funny, and took a step back to allow her in. “Come on, everyone’s clearly curious to know who you are!”

As if that was supposed to make her feel better.

With all eyes still on her, Lysithea took a step forward and slowly made her way to the front of the class; she only seemed to get more nervous with every step she took. Looking at their faces made everything worse, so she had no choice but to walk with her eyes glued to the floor. It was unclear to her what exactly worried her so - had she always been so scared of others? Surely not; though it had been so long since she saw anyone her age, it felt unreal to be there at that moment. It didn’t feel real.

“Everyone,” the teacher addressed the students, grabbing their attention, “this is your new classmate! Why don’t you introduce yourself, dear?”

She cleared her throat and looked up slightly, enough to let them see her face. “M-my name is Lysithea… Um, Lysithea Ordelia. It’s...” her voice got quieter as she heard whispers come from the right “It’s nice… to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” the teacher patted her shoulder, which caused Lysithea to shiver. “Lysithea here had been in the hospital for quite a while, so I would appreciate it if you helped her out whenever you can. You can take a seat now.”

As she walked through the others, Lysithea did her best to tune out everything, and wondered when her legs had gotten so heavy.

“What school did you come from?” one of the girls around her asked cheerfully, leaning in. They were in the classroom, during the first break. She didn’t know why they were swarming her, or why they were so close, but she did not like it one bit - she’d expected them to leave her alone, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.

“I-I haven’t been...”

The girl gasped. “Right! You haven’t been in school for a while, I totally forgot.”

“Your hair looks really cool!” Another girl reached out and grabbed a strand of hair, and she completely froze in place. All of this made her feel sick to her stomach, she just wanted it to be over as soon as possible. “It’s _so_ unique, and smooth too!”

Someone else moved closer to her, and left Lysithea with absolutely no room to move. “Do you want me to braid your hair? You’d look really cute-”

“Hell _oo_ , everyone! Make way for me, please!”

A loud, cheery voice came from behind the crowd and everyone turned around to look. Lysithea still couldn’t see anything, until everyone took a step back, finally giving her room to breathe. As the crowd dispersed, an orange-haired girl with cute pigtails came into view; her smile was bright enough to light up the entire room, and her eyes were a really deep shade of blue. While everyone greeted her, she was giggling softly at all of them.

When people started leaving, she took a step forward and waved. “Hello! Lysithea, right?”

Her eyes grew slightly as she looked up to the ginger-haired girl, and nodded hesitantly.

“I’ve been told you need to go to the nurse’s office for your medicine,” she said, a bit too cheerfully, “do you know where it is?”

“Um… No-”

“That’s great!” she exclaimed quite loudly. “I mean, it’s not _great_ great, because you’ll have to learn where it is soon if you’re a student here now, obviously, but there’s no rush! You just came here, that’s normal. Totally normal! It’s great that I’m here to- oh, that sounds a bit...”

While the girl rambled, she was animating everything with her entire body and Lysithea felt dizzy just by watching her move.

“I’m the nurse’s aide! That’s what I meant to say, so I will help you,” she cleared her throat and straightened herself. “I’ll, uh, show you the way. Come on!”

So she let herself be pulled out of the room by this cheerful girl, though she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Leaving the class, the girl was holding Lysithea’s hand quite tightly and her steps were quick - it was hard to keep up, but she wasn’t able to open her mouth to say anything. People were staring at them, most likely, but at least she couldn’t see anyone’s faces.

“Oh!” The girl slowed down, though didn’t let go of Lysithea’s hand. She was smiling sweetly as she looked at her over her shoulder. “Sorry, I never told you my name, did I? I’m Annette, but most people call me Annie!”

Annette… Somehow, it did fit her quite well. “Nice to meet you, Annette.”

“You too! I really- hold on, we’re going to take a turn here.” Suddenly, Lysithea was being pulled once again; though it didn’t last long this time. “I hope you’ll like it here! If you need anything you can come to me, I’d be happy to help.”

“Oh, um,” she mumbled nervously, “you don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to! You’re new, after all, you can’t figure everything out without any help.”

Annette seemed really kind and genuine, which comforted Lysithea a little bit. The way she talked, the way she smiled, made Lysithea feel less stressed out about everything that was going on.

When they arrived at the nurse’s office, Annette finally let go of her hand and turned around to leave. Then, when Lysithea realized...

“Hey,” she called out weakly. The ginger turned around with her eyebrows raised. “Uh, I forgot to say… Th-thank you!”

For taking her to the nurse, or for offering to help, she didn’t exactly know either. But it didn’t matter too much when Annette smiled at her, before eventually leaving her sight.

Lysithea’s legs didn’t feel as heavy anymore.

After her first week of school, Lysithea was already exhausted.

High school was a scary place, as she’d expected. She hadn’t been feeling ready to start her first year from the very beginning either way; but now that she had started school, it was too much for her to be able to handle it. She hated it all; hated the other students, the teachers, the expectations that were put on them instantly…

(People were whispering all the time. “ _You’d think someone would have the time to study when they are hospitalized”,_ someone had said in math, after she had failed to find the solution to one of the questions. “ _I bet she was just skipping school.”_

Though somehow Annette had realized that she was feeling down after class and talked to her, telling her how she’s also bad at math.

“I come to school all the time, and I still can’t do it,” Annette had puffed her cheeks. “So don’t worry that much about it! If you need any help, we can study together!”)

Annette was the only person that was always nice to her, no matter what. She really did appreciate having someone like her; it didn’t feel real, the way she was being treated so nicely by an amazing person like Annette. Maybe, just maybe, they could even be considered friends at that stage. Though the rest of the people...

(“ _Getting tired after just the warm-up?”_ Lysithea couldn’t stand gym lessons, couldn’t stand not being able to properly move with her weak muscles. Yet she had to participate, there was no way out. She was pushing herself so hard, and yet all she heard was-

_“Guess that’s what happens when you’re bedridden for so long.”_

“You should believe in yourself!” Annette had told her after class. “You will become stronger eventually!”

But she didn’t care for strength, nor did she care enough about herself. She just wanted to be like the other teenagers, just live a normal life.)

It wasn’t fair.

She couldn’t do anything right and didn’t know how she could get better at _anything_. It was going to be the same the day after, wasn’t it? Nothing was going to change, she was still going to be nothing but trouble for everybody. No matter how she looked at it, it was a bleak future, full of nothing, awaiting her; and she would rather rot in her own room than wait for nothingness.

_“There is no point in living an empty life, is there?”_

That was true, she didn’t see any point in it. “There isn’t.”

_“Maybe you’re better off dead, aren’t you?”_

If she had nothing to live for, maybe that was true as well. “I’m better off indeed...”

_“Yes! You should die right here, right now!”_

Right… here? “N- no, where did that-”

Lysithea stopped abruptly and looked up from the floor, only to find out she was surrounded by what seemed to be a weird world. Everything around her was in black and white and too abstract to be real. She froze, unsure of what she was supposed to do. “W-who’s there? Who is talking to me?”

Her head was starting to spin as she looked around _,_ she couldn’t make sense of what was happening. Just a minute ago, she was walking home... Was this all in her head, or had she wandered off somewhere without realizing it?

A noise came from behind and she let out a shriek, turning around to see what was there - immediately, she was met with the sight of weird human figures walking towards her. They looked two-dimensional, like they had jumped out of pages and came to life; their faces were indistinguishable and looked like they were _melting._ Her legs were glued to the floor, she didn’t know what to do. The fear settled in.

 _Please,_ she pleaded in her head, unable to make any noise. _Somebody please help me._

“Hey! Stay away, ugly creatures!”

The figures were hit by something inexplicably bright, so bright that Lysithea had to cover her eyes with her arm, and following it she heard someone yell along with footsteps echoing as they ran. It sounded chaotic, whatever was happening, but by the time she had opened her eyes, the weird figures were gone. She stared blankly at the scene before looking around her to see the source of the bright light.

“No grief seed? That means it must’ve been a familiar!”

“That is correct! You learn very fast.”

When she looked at her left, two girls in extravagant clothes were standing there. The one wearing a purple outfit was carrying something huge - it somewhat looked like a really thin sword, a really big one. And the other one was-

“Oh, Lysithea! I’m _so_ sorry, jeez, I didn’t realize it was you!” Annette, who was now wearing a cute and puffy dress with a cape instead of her school uniform, walked up to her and reached out for her hand.

Lysithea was still having a hard time grasping what had happened, what _was_ happening.

“Don’t worry, Petra! She just seems a bit shaken,” she looked behind to give the other girl a thumbs up, then turned back to Lysithea. “Come, let’s go out of here.”

Somehow, they exited the weird place and came back to reality; Annette held her hand the entire time on their way out, and Lysithea held onto it harder than she normally would have. “What was-”

“It’s best if you don’t ask any questions,” the purple-haired girl interrupted her. Lysithea belatedly realized it was another familiar face, one she had seen in class. Though it wasn’t exactly reassuring; in fact, it only confused her further. “Lysithea, is it?”

She nodded her head wordlessly.

Annette let out a long sigh and, much to Lysithea’s disappointment, let go of her hand. “Petra, come on, she’s seen everything! We can’t expect her to forget all of _that._ ”

“It’s dangerous for her to know-”

“Imagine how confused she must be! Doesn’t she deserve an explanation, at the very least?”

They both stared at each other; Annette’s eyes were pleading, and she somewhat reminded Lysithea of a lost puppy. Petra’s expression softened, and she glanced over at her for a split second. “Can we trust her?”

Even Lysithea would say no to her question. She hadn’t done anything to gain either of their trust, had she? Whatever was going on, she had nothing to with it; but it was clear that she had witnessed something she wasn’t meant to.

And yet, unexpectedly, Annette giggled before responding, “Absolutely!”

Lysithea blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

She turned back around to look directly into Lysithea’s eyes, with the same exact smile she had on when they had first met. “I trust her, with all my heart!”

(And why she decided to trust her, Lysithea still did not know. Maybe that was the cause of their inescapable doom - the beginning of a never-ending cycle.)

Kyubey was a weird, pet-like creature.

They were at Petra’s apartment; apparently she lived alone, since she had only come here for education. She didn’t seem to want to elaborate on it, so Lysithea did not ask. Annette was cheerfully introducing Kyubey as Petra was pouring them some tea. Kyubey was able to talk, much to her surprise; though considering what happened before, maybe it wasn’t that strange.

“You have matching eyes,” Annette pointed at Kyubey’s red, maybe magenta eyes. “You know, I think you look a lot like each other! Well, not really… Kyubey is what you would look like as a cat, maybe?”

Lysithea blinked a couple of times. “...As a cat?”

It did make sense in some way, looking at Kyubey’s white fur and bright eyes. It was somehow cute in a way she couldn’t put into words, maybe because of its size. Maybe because it was a mix of a cute cat and a bunny with long ears, but either way, it was _interesting._

“Doesn’t Kyubey look like one? I actually really like cats, so when I first saw Kyubey I thought-”

As Annette rambled on, Petra put the teapot down and looked at them with a contemplate expression on her face. “I believe you are having a lot of questions,” she interrupted, but Annette didn’t seem to mind. “Because you know our identities, and Annette wanted me to talk to you, I will answer you. But first,” she held out her hand to Lysithea, “my name is Petra Macneary, nice to meet you.”

Annette leaned in to whisper something into her ear, to which she responded with “I acknowledge we are in the same class, but I have to be nice-”

“No, I was just reminding you! That’s all!” She smiled sheepishly, not showing any sign of being apologetic at all. Lysithea slowly reached out to grab Petra’s hand, and they stayed like that for a few awkward moments before they let go at the same time. _Today doesn’t feel real,_ she thought to herself, as she coughed into her hand in the silence.

Petra cleared her throat before she continued. “Me and Annette hunt creatures you were seeing before, which we call witches, for the sake of everyone. It is our job to rid of them, because we are... magical girls.”

Lysithea turned to her. “Magical… girls. But it’s- it sounds dangerous…” The idea of magical girls didn’t sound dangerous at all; what she would imagine as magical girls were people dressed up in cute clothing, doing magic with a wand, or something similar. This, however, seemed way beyond that.

Annette nodded her head. “It definitely is risky, but I really like being of help to people! I think that’s what makes me happy about being a magical girl.” She turned to Petra and smiled at her. “But I’m still new to this, Petra is the one that has a lot of experience here.”

Petra smiled at her sweetly. She was more reserved, unlike Annette, though Lysithea could tell that she was just as kind as her.

“Would you like to become a magical girl too?” she asked hurriedly, out of excitement. “We could go around and hunt witches together! It’s really easy, right Kyubey? Right?”

The cat-like creatures cocked its head. “In that sense, I guess you could call it easy.”

“It is really not,” Petra interjected, looking even more serious than before. “To become a magical girl... you should be making a contract with Kyubey first.”

“A contract?”

Petra nodded and grabbed something from her pocket - it was a round, fancy-looking object that glowed Fuschia. Kind of reminded Lysithea of a charm of the sorts. “This is a soul gem. I got this after my contract with Kyubey - it’s the reminder of being a magical girl that you are carrying.”

Lysithea stared at it in amazement, though the idea of signing a contract still made her feel uneasy. “What about, uh, the contract?”

“It’s not paperwork or anything,” Annette reassured her. “It’s much more simple; Kyubey grants you a wish and in return, you have to fight witches!”

Kyubey was staring at her when she turned her attention to it. “I will grant you one wish or a miracle! Even if it’s the most impossible of wishes, I can make it happen.”

The thought about it gave Lysithea chills. It was hard to comprehend, that this creature was able to make miracles happen - was its power really infinite? Could it truly grant anything Lysithea wished for?

“After the contract, your soul gem is created - and from then on, you are duty-bound to fight witches.”

“I see,” Lysithea nodded slowly. “You hunt those... creatures.”

Annette scooted over so that she sat closer to Lysithea, which caused her to freeze in panic for a second. “Doesn’t that sound amazing! And uh, scary too, but you get to be a magical girl! We can go around and-”

“You should be focusing on yourself, Annette,” Petra scolded her, though she still had the hint of a smile on her lips. “You have to become strong before Walpurgisnacht.”

“What about Walpurgisnacht?” Lysithea asked, while Annette grabbed her arm and pouted at Petra. She hadn’t been able to attend any festivals in the previous years, but she did quite enjoy the holiday.

Kyubey was still looking at her.

“There is going to be a really powerful storm at the end of the month,” Annette informed her, still pouting. “We’re expecting a witch to come, so please don’t go out on that day! Especially when it gets late.”

Petra checked the clock on her wrist. “Speaking of… You two should probably be going.”

“Oh!” Annette jumped on her feet so suddenly that Lysithea lost her balance and fell on her side. “Oh. Sorry Lysie, that was too quick.”

She blinked as she got on her feet. “...Lysie?”

“Would you like to walk home together? Mine is a bit far from here, so if yours is close I’ll drop you off on the way! And we can keep talking about magical girls and everything else-”

Everything was fine.

After that day, Lysithea started to spend more time with Annette and Petra - both at school and outside. She mostly accompanied them to the mazes and watched them fight from afar, sometimes feeling guilty that she couldn’t help them. Kyubey did ask her a few times if she considered making a contract, but she always said she wasn’t sure.

There was so much to take into consideration and she never felt quite ready to do it - not to mention she didn’t know what to wish for. Petra has made sure to remind her not to make a _useless, stupid_ wish almost every day. But most importantly, she was afraid; Lysithea wasn’t nearly as strong or determined as the two of them, and she probably wouldn’t make a good magical girl. It was fine, still, she had no problem with just admiring the two or simply being there.

Everything was fine. Everything was great, actually; with Annette and Petra, she no longer felt lonely, after spending so much time isolated from everyone else. Annette always walked her home after school, even when she insisted she would be fine for herself. It felt good, getting used to having someone by her side.

Being able to spend time with the two, having fun and talking to them… Maybe it was even more than great. But then Walpurgisnacht came.

There was indeed a storm outside; it was much worse than Lysithea had expected, though she most likely wasn’t really expecting anything in the first place. She had decided to go with them, even though Petra had told her to stay at home and be safe - she felt like she had to go.

The witch looked horrible. It was bigger than the previous ones and she knew it was more powerful too. But Petra and Annette seemed unfazed by it: they had been training for a month now, they were ready for the fight. Lysithea wished both of them good luck before they smiled at her and took off.

It was the last time Petra had smiled at her.

The fight went on for a while, but it had not gone well - a cold, dead body now laid in between the two girls. Lysithea couldn’t move as she stared at her friend wordlessly; she couldn’t scream, cry, do _anything_ at all. It was as if everything around them had vanished, and all she could do was drown in her pain, her grief.

“I think-” Annette sniffled before she slowly got on her feet. “I should go now.”

Lysithea looked up to see her stare at the sky. “But, Petra…”

“I know... That’s why I should do it..” There was a faint smile on her face, but her eyes looked gloomy, empty. “I’m the only one who can defeat Walpurgisnacht.”

“You can’t do this alone!” Lysithea screamed, unable to control herself. “If you do it you… then y-you will also-”

Annette took a step forward and kneeled down again. “Even so, this is my job. Magical girls have to protect the people.” Before Lysithea could say anything back, she reached out to grab her hand. “Lysie… I’m glad I was able to become friends with you.”

“ _No-_ ”

“The time we saved you from the witch…” She wiped the tears off her cheeks with her free hand. “That is my proudest accomplishment. I’m glad I became a magical girl, I-I’m so glad I was able to save you back then. And… if you let me, I want to save you one more time.”

Lysithea couldn’t contain her tears anymore. She squeezed the other girl's hand as hard as she could, knowing what was going to happen. “Annette... “

And then, she was gone. Only a few moments after, Lysithea was hovering over her dead body instead, slowly breaking down. There was nothing else she could do, other than crying and screaming when no one was able to hear her. The storm had only gotten worse and it was now raining over them. Her body had gone numb, she didn’t feel a single drop; the only thing Lysithea felt was the pain.

It wasn’t fair. Annette should’ve been the one to live, rather than someone like her. But then why hadn’t she done something? When Annette sacrificed her life, why had she stood there and watched? How useless, how pitiful the turn of events were - she wasn’t someone worth saving, but Annette.. She deserved a long, fulfilling life; she had always been so kind, so selfless, always putting other people before herself.

_I’d rather you have lived._

“Do you really mean that?”

Kyubey had come out of nowhere; right now, it was standing right next to Annette’s body. Lysithea couldn’t bring herself to look away from her face, so she sobbed harder as it kept staring at her.

“If there is something you want badly enough to accept a destiny full of battles,” it continued, “I could possibly be of help to you.”

Lysithea slowly looked up. Kyubey was staring into her soul with its bright eyes. “You mean…”

“I can grant you any wish if you make a contract with me. It seems you have enough potential, considering your grief.”

She had lost two friends in one day; the only people that she’d come to grow in the past month. Now with them gone, she was alone once again. What was she supposed to do without anyone to rely on anymore? They had both saved her before, maybe now it was her time to return the favor.

Lysithea wasn’t afraid anymore - she had to do it, for the sake of the time they had spent together. If she had the chance to bring them back, she would take it.

“Then I-” she sniffled as she tried to collect herself. Kyubey kept on staring. “I want to- I want to go back… To the day I first met Annette. I want to protect my friends!”

The rest, she didn’t remember too well; she remembered feeling an unbearable pain, though it was physical this time. It felt like she was being torn apart - the rest was confusing, bright, and much less painful. The last thing she could remember feeling was _hope._

It was going to be fine; because if she could redo everything, she could save them.

(Or so she had thought.)

* * *


End file.
